Portland’s city council approved more than $631,000 in grants on Wednesday for the city’s 2019 Cannabis Social Equity Grant Program. Reports the station
The grant money is aimed at helping groups of people who faced criminal charges related to cannabis before recreational marijuana was legalized.
“Many studies have shown that adults across races use cannabis at similar rates,” Jeanette Ward Horton of the New Leaf Project told Portland’s city council Wednesday. “However, we can see in the next two slides, this is arrest rates and the slide after is conviction rates in the state of Oregon, you can see the disproportionate targeting first of African American communities. Second, native American communities.”
An audit by the city of Portland delivered in May showed 79% of the first year’s cannabis tax revenue went to fund transportation and law enforcement.
The ordinance approved by voters that put Portland’s cannabis tax in place didn’t specify exactly how the funds should be used.
Cannabis tax grant are now being administered directly by the city’s Cannabis Program.
“We just had a series of community talks to find out what Portlanders want us to spend this money on,” said cannabis program policy coordinator Kimie Ueoka.
“You already have hundreds of Portlanders who have been directly benefiting from this tax funding,” said Brandon Goldner, cannabis program supervior. “Whether it’s people getting workforce development, help getting education in the construction field, or whether it’s people who are helping – getting help clearing their records and expunging their records.”
Charles Manigo of the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center testified that grants last year helped dozens of people clear their driving records or get job training though POIC.
“With this cannabis grant, we’ve been able to help seven of our folks get drivers’ licenses. Because that’s a huge barrier and a huge obstacle that we face. If our folks don’t have drivers’ licenses they may be on out-of-work lists longer than folks who do have drivers’ licenses,” said Manigo.
Source: https://katu.com/news/local/portland-city-council-approves-cannabis-tax-grants
